Cuba pinpoints more than 3,000 pre-Columbian settlements

Havana, Jul 12 (EFE).- A project to catalogue Cuba's pre-Columbian archaeological sites has pinpointed the locations of more than 3,200 indigenous settlements, Communist Party daily Granma said Friday.

The initiative, which was launched two years ago and is set to conclude by the end of 2013, has identified 1,000 previously unlisted sites.

Cuba's westernmost province, Pinar del Rio, and the central region of Villa Clara have the highest density of sites, with 500 each.

The census aims to provide a snapshot of the locations and state of preservation of spots where the island's indigenous people lived, the chief archaeologist at the Cuban institute of Anthropology, Alfonso Cordova Medina, told Granma.

Researchers and scholars will use the information to compile the first indigenous archaeological atlas of Cuba.

"The updating of the Archaeological Census and its contributions constitute a scientific tool of inestimable value in the efforts to reinforce national identity and Cubans' sense of belonging," Granma said.